Miami Thunder
by cheerthis95
Summary: What does a millionare, a street racer, a doctor, a street dancer & a slew of other ppl have in common? When it thunders in Miami, it's loud & can bring a lot of different ppl to the same place. This will be one storm NO ONE will forget for a long time.
1. Chapter 1

Miami Thunder Chapter 1

"You're here to take me back to _your _place_?_" The newly turned 17 year old Russia O'Connor asked, her hands on her hips. She was staring at Brian like he had just said he was an alien.

"Look, I can understand why you would feel mad at me after all these years but cut me some slack, would you?" Brian asked, his arms folded as well. The blonde haired girl noticed the similar pose and was quick to move.

"Cut you some slack?" She scoffed. "Who cut me slack after our parents were put in the ground, Brian?" She asked, her hands held out in front of her, confrontational style. She looked like a small threat, Brian noticed, but still a threat.

"Hey, it wasn't my doing or my fault. I even became an undercover cop just to try to get custody of you back! I understand you're bitter and I don't blame you, but you can't put the blame on me for all that went down. I had no choice and I didn't like it either." Brian shot back, his eyes intensely glaring at his sister. Memories of the double funeral of their parents replayed in his head for the thousandth time. That was 4 years ago and today was a moment he had been waiting for for a long time. They had just walked out of the courthouse and he was ready to take his sister back to where she belonged, with him.

"I realize that but now you want to show up? I mean, I have a year left until I'm eighteen and I'm doin just fine. Now you want to drag me back to your place and I'm already in school and …" Russia's anger was very apparent in her voice and Brian felt bad for her. He was beginning to get nervous that the attorneys for the state would overhear them. This had been the longest fight of his life, despite everything else he had experienced with Dominic's crew and clearing his record. Nothing was going to jeopardize his chance to finally have his only family member back with him. Nothing.

"Oh come on, Rush. Quit tryin to play me. You've been skippin school for almost the whole year anyway, what does that matter? I'll help you get settled in. I've worked my ass off for the last four years to try to get you and now that I finally am able to take care of you and the courts will let me, this is how you're gonna act?" Brian asked, his eyes a mixture of pleading mixed with anger. He had kept in contact with her for the full four years, he had always told her of his plans and up until now, this was the first time he had heard of her not wanting to live with him.

"Yeah, so what? I do all right. I don't need school to survive. You can't take me away from my dancing. You can't, Brian. It's taken me this long to get where I'm at and I'm NOT giving it up because you decided to ride in on your little white horse and 'save me'." Russia held up her hands and did mock quotes when she said the words save me.

"You don't need school? That's it, you're outta your mind. You are coming with me and I mean NOW." Brian said, grabbing her by the arm. He had made up his mind, it was no longer debatable, it was out of her control. He grabbed her bags and led her to his car.

"Nice ride, it's different than when you came to visit me, what's up with that?" Russia asked with a defeated sigh and a sarcastic tone to her voice.

"I have a few different cars." Brian said, opening the door for her.

"This is going to suck." She muttered to herself as she got in. She was so mad she had to leave her dance crew. It wasn't any dance crew, this was _the_ best crew in Florida, she loved being in West Palm 

Beach and ruling the street scene. The battles she battled in were top notch, intense, and there was no place around that could come as close to having such good competition. West Palm Beach was known for being the premier dance spot. She hadn't even gotten to say good bye to her crew except through a video she had made on YouTube. She tried to fight her tears as Brian exited the courthouse and headed out on the interstate. She had learned to live without him this long, why was he so insistent on him coming back now?

"So we're going to spend the next hour and 28 minutes not talking, huh?" Brian asked, putting his sunglasses on as they picked up speed.

"I don't know." Russia sat back and sighed. She ran her hand over her cargo pants to straighten out a wrinkle and dug in her backpack for her sunglasses. This was going to be the longest hour and a half of her life she figured.

"So, when do I get to see you dance?" Brian asked, twenty something minutes later.

"You don't." Russia replied rather quickly. Her dancing was something that was hers and hers alone. The nights she was lonely and missing her parents, dancing was the _only _thing that was there for her. She put her heart and soul in it, dance was her words, her walkway to only a world she knew. A world away from any threats, any hurt, and most of all, any loneliness.

"You can't just quit dancing just cause you have to move, that's about stupid." Brian said, looking at his sister.

"Please keep your eyes on the road." She shifted uncomfortably, getting nervous. Anytime she was in a car, it was hard for her. She had been with her parents when they had died, she had been in that car. She frowned and shifted, taking a deep breath, her anxiety coming back to her. She hated cars. She hated driving. She didn't care if she ever drove. She sat up and took a deep breath, feeling as though her lungs were closing in on her. She wasn't going to let Brian see her this way, she promised herself. This was her demon and it was hers alone to deal with. He was just another temporary person in her life. Sure, he had came to visit her a lot, not as much as she had wanted when she was on her own with strangers at thirteen, but he had made the effort. But she grew to realize the closer you were to people, the more of a risk you had to lose them and losing someone else just wasn't in her plans. She had turned her feelings off a long time ago. Some teachers called it hate, some called it pure anger, some called her a brat for acting out and some just was at a loss of words on how to handle her, such as her last foster mother. No one understood her and that was fine with her, but it was her pet peeve when people tried to act as though they understood. The truth of the reality was that no one could understand how it was to hear the clash of metal in her head, seeing her parents laying there bloody and bleeding, how it felt to not know what was going to happen to her at the funeral and after it was over. Not even Brian, because he had been 21 at the time. He was 8 years older than her and he had already had his freedom. He didn't have to answer to anyone and he didn't have to wonder where he was going to go to next.

"This is my stare and drive. I can drive without looking, I'm a pretty good driver." Brian said, trying to get her to grin.

"Cocky much? What in the world would possess you to drive and not look at the road?" She asked, her tone unamused.

"I call it the stare and drive. It's pretty popular with the girls." Brian joked, still getting no reaction from her. She kept her head turned to her side, staring outside and her hands were braced on the seat, as though she needed something to grab.

"You are still a ladies' man and a dork. Good to know much hasn't changed from high school." She sighed, laying her head on the window.

"Funny. I hope you don't mind that we're stayin with Roman and another one of my best friends." Brian said, deciding to ignore her comment and change the subject. She was quiet and he wondered if she was asleep. He took a good look at her. She looked somewhat depressed, yet not much had changed from her the last time he had seen her. She was dressed more like a tom boy than a girl and looked like your typical street dancer you'd find in the movies or on the streets of the big downtown cities. She wore a hat and had her long blonde hair pulled through the back of it. She was petite, only 5'4. Her cheeks looked sunken in and she looked sad. She looked sad, but yet she looked pretty tough too, he grinned to himself. He hoped she just needed some love and attention and she'd turn back into his sister that he had been so close to. He felt a pang of guilt, knowing he was to blame for some of it when he had left to go to LA for his job. Although it was something he knew he had done for the two of them in the long run, it still bothered him that he had to leave her. That's when this change came over her and it was a drastic change, he mused as he sped down the interstate. He looked over at her once more and took a deep breath, wondering if he should bother trying to talk to her once more.

"Are we there yet?" She woke up and stretched sleepily almost an hour later. She hadn't meant to go to sleep, she had planning to ignore him, but had fallen asleep in the process.

"We're in Miami Beach, yeah. It's about fifteen minutes until we get to my house." Brian said, shocked she really had been sleeping. Maybe she wouldn't be so difficult after all, he reasoned with satisfaction as he exited the interstate. "Mind if we make a stop at the mall? I need to get a few things and Rome has this Chinese place he wants some food from." Brian asked just to be polite.

"Sure, why not." She said, shrugging, not really caring. It wasn't like she had a choice in anything until she turned 18 anyway, she thought. That was only 335 days away, she said, the days on her calendar already marked off for today. She had started the count down on her 17th birthday, something that had been exactly a month today, as a matter of fact.

"I figured I'd give you some late birthday money while I stopped to pick up a few things and turn you lose in the mall. This mall is awesome. You'll love it." Brian promised, pulling into the four story mall.

"No, it's cool. I don't do malls." Russia replied, not wanting her brother's bribing money to feel okay about having to stop for something on her first day with him.

"Okay, if you don't do malls, where else you going to get your dance gear?" Brian asked, raising an eyebrow as he pulled into a parking lot.

"I'll manage with what I got. I do with what I got, always have and always will." Russia shrugged, this time not meaning to be spiteful. It was just the raw truth. She had dealt with different situations in spending her teenage years in foster care and she had learned to fend for herself quite well. She didn't want to have to depend on anyone else and they usually preferred her not to depend on them, or as one foster parent had put it, "they'd rather not get too attached", which had been fine by her. She didn't exactly want to have to lose anyone else either. She was jolted out of her thoughts as Brian slammed the car door shut with a bit more force than he normally did.

"Is this how it's going to be from now on? What happened to my little sister that used to not hate me? Damn it, Rush, I'm trying. Cut me a damn break. You remind me so much of Roman. Always blaming people for something they couldn't or can't control or had nothing to do with something. I can play this little anger game too and I promise you, it's not going to stop me from taking care of you so if that's why 

you're doing it, then you can stop right now. I'm not giving up on you and I refuse to let you go no matter how much an attitude you want to have with me." Brian ran a hand through his hair, something he did when he was stressed or under pressure.

"Good speech, good speech." She clapped slowly at first and broke into fake applause. He gave her a frown and she stopped. "How is it that I remind you of Rome? You can't compare me to him, that's apples and oranges." She said, rolling her eyes and following him inside the mall.

"Yeah, well, then the applies must be orange cause you sure as hell act like him when you want to blame someone for something they can't control. I was a cop and he got busted for stealin hubcaps and because I was a cop, he crossed me off his friend list." Brian explained.

"That's so touching. Good thing they didn't have MySpace back in your teenage years cause you'd have no friends to have on your little popularity list, huh? That would be just horrible." She said dryly, making Brian almost choke with that comment.

"You are a piece of work. Can't you just humor me and go buy yourself something? I want you to have a chance to buy clothes or whatever here before we get you settled in. Anything you want for your room, you know, I just want to make it feel like a home for you." Brian held out some money to her, his eyes pleading.

"A home? What is that?" She asked in all seriousness.

"Look, like I said, I can't change the past. All I can do is give you one good year in my life and I intend to make it your best year ever. Just please give me the chance to do it. Want a coke?" He asked, stopping at one of the pretzel places as he talked. "Two pretzels, one with cheese and two medium drinks, please." Brian told the cashier.

"Wow, Rome really rubbed off on you with the eatin thing, huh?" She asked, remembering Roman always was eating when he had spent time at their house.

"You remember Romey Rome?" Brian asked, a shocked grin on his face.

"Of course. " Was all she replied.

"Here, I got one for you. You look like you need to eat." He handed her the pretzel and cheese, knowing she had to have cheese with it or she wouldn't touch it. She gave a half smile at him handing her the pretzel, part of her feeling grateful for him not giving her the choice to eat so it didn't seem like she wanted to and part of it because thinking about their days growing up always made her smile.

"I guess I have no choice but to eat it, I don't believe in wasting food." She muttered, acting like it killed her to tear off a bite and eat it. She hadn't been to the mall in years, and this mall was pretty amazing. It was big, it was huge. She had dealt with buying second hand and often found better things there than what you could have found at the designer shops anyways.

"Good, I don't either. Remember when Dad made you sit at the table until you ate your dinner and he finally gave up and went to bed and you were right there in the morning, still sitting there, looking bright eyed and bushy tailed, not even tired?" He asked, laughing.

"Oh yeah! I don't think I've ever seen his face turn such a deep shade of purple as that morning." Russia laughed, holding her stomach. She could remember it clear as day.

"Dad always said you were the most stubborn of the family and now I think I can say that I know he's right." Brian finished his pretzel, crumbling the light wrapper of it and tossing it in the trash from where he sat.

"Funny. So how long you going to be? Maybe I'll just wait at this table til you're done." She cracked a joke and Brian grinned, feeling better than he had all day suddenly.

"Maybe twenty, thirty minutes. You're welcome to stay with me but I thought maybe you'd enjoy some alone time with some cash and some stores." Brian grinned, trying to give her a chance to have some time without being on her guard.

"You don't have to pay me to get rid of me, you know." She looked down, fiddling with her lightweight jacket's zipper.

"I know I don't. That's not why I'm offering. I just have some cash and I know you need some alone time and shopping always makes a girl feel better so I was just offering." Brian said, realizing now why she had been so defensive about the money and going off on her own. He felt stupid for not realizing how it must have sounded and now he wanted to kick himself. "I'm sorry, I guess it seemed like I wanted to ditch you and that's not it at all. I honestly was trying to think about you and how I'd feel if it was me…" Brian's voice trailed off and he looked her in the eyes.

"It's cool either way, I could really use some new shoes, but I need more than twenty minutes." She said, feeling bad at how sad he looked. She folded her arms and added her condition to the bargain, just to remind him she was still the one in control.

"Take your time, I'll be here at this table waiting. Here's 400, if you need more, just call my cell phone, okay?" He asked, handing the money to her and closing her hand around it. Her eyes became big and she stared at him.

"400? You're joking, right?" She asked, her mouth dropping open.

"No, why? Things are expensive. And I remember you don't exactly have cheap taste." He teased, poking her in the side playfully.

"I can't take that much from you. I can deal with a 100." She said as she separated a 100 and tried to hand him the rest back.

"Nope, I'm not taking it back. You need to be able to go shopping and it's on me. It's more than fine. I have worked hard on saving money for when you came and I'm not letting you give it back to me. It's time you learn the good life." He said, his arms folded.

"I can't take this." She stuttered, shaking her head.

"You can and you will. You can pay me back by spending it all. Besides, I know you can't get a good pair of dancing shoes for less than 150 or so. At least. Just promise me you won't try to run away and go back to Palm Beach?" He asked, looking her in her bright blue eyes. They were almost an aquamarine color and even though she no longer smiled much, they still seemed to have the familiar sparkle to them that he remembered.

"I won't. Where would I go?" She asked, still in shock at how much money he had just given her.

"I don't know. But I'd use my detective friends and hunt you down. You're not the only one who is stubborn in the family." He promised her, being serious. She nodded.

"So I noticed." She turned to head towards the stairs and stopped. "Thank you, Brian." She said, then took off without waiting for a reply from him.

"That's a start." He smiled happily. "Yo, Rome, you got that party set up yet and done?" He asked on his cell phone.

"It's on and crackin, fool. All we need is Blondie and we're good to go." Roman replied with a nod at the other end of the phone.

"Cool. She's going shopping. Might be another hour or so. But we'll be there." Brian said, throwing away his coke as he walked towards the opposite end of the mall to give her some space.

"An hour. Damn females and their shoppin." Roman complained.

"See you soon, Bro. Thanks for helping me set it all up, man." Brian said and hung up with a grin.

**A/N: Here's a new and different idea, I hope you like how it's starting out. Please let me know what you think about it and if you have any suggestions! It will be much appreciated! Thanks for checking it out, Cheer**


	2. What you don't know, won't hurt you

Miami Thunder chapter 2

"Yo, is that her? There's no way that can be her!" A tall guy whispered, elbowing his brother, Chance Marshall. The two were in the Street Gear store doing some shopping. "It looks like the girl on YouTube we've been watching." He nodded, convinced now.

"That does look like her, dog." Chase said, leaning over a clothes rack to get a closer look at the girl that Channing was looking at with squinted eyes. She was short, wearing a blue tank top and had on some cargo capris. She was eyeing a shoe very closely and looked to be pretty much in deep thought, he observed.

"Surely it's not." Channing said, going back to the clothing rack he had been looking through.

"I don't know, I think you could be right. I mean, she's one of the only blonde girls I know who dances with a crew." Chase said, folding his arms and smiling.

"Can I help you miss?" The salesperson asked.

"Yeah, can I try this on in a size 6?" She asked, holding up a shoe.

"Sure, anything else back there you'd like me to grab?" The young man asked, smiling as he looked at her.

"Yeah, this one, that one, and that one on the end. All sixes, please." She nodded, sitting down to wait for him to get back.

"Here you go." He said, handing her the boxes. She took her time to put them on, hoping he'd leave her to herself but instead, he stood there. She held up her foot with the new shoe on up in front of her, 

trying to decide if she liked the look and feel of it. "That looks good on your foot." The salesperson noted.

"Hmm, I don't know, I should try this one. I'm not feeling this one." She said, putting the other shoe on after taking the other one off. She did the same thing, holding it up in front of her, looking at it critically.

"That one's tighter, yeah, I like that one better." The sales guy nodded, still smiling. She did the same thing with the third and got the same response.

"Let me guess, you're on commission?" She asked, getting no reply. She took that for a yes. "Here's a tip for you, next time, try to earn your money by being a real person, not by kissing ass, okay?" She asked, getting up. "I'm outta here. All you care about is making your money." She grumbled and headed out of the store.

"Hey, now's your chance, Channing." Chase elbowed his brother.

"Yeah, I think you're right. Here goes nothin." Channing replied, putting his hat backwards and walking out quickly to catch her. "Yo, excuse me, little one." He said, jogging a bit to catch up to her and tapping her on the shoulder. She whirled around.

"Who you callin little?" She snapped, her eyes on him.

"Whoa, hold up. I ain't tryin to get on your bad side. Just hear me out." Channing held up his hands in surrender and flashed her a smile.

"I'm on a schedule." She sighed, knowing he was about to make some snide remark about her crew.

"You're from the Street Ryders from Palm Beach, aren't you?" Channing asked, putting his hands in the pockets of the oversized jeans he was sporting.

"Yeah, and?" She asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow at him.

"What you doin way out this way?" Channing asked, nodding to Chase in a way she didn't even notice. Chase grinned and nodded back.

"What business is it of yours?" She folded her arms.

"Damn, girl. Such anger. I guess that's why you hit it so well on the floor." Channing said, taking a step back for emphasis.

"You got a point to all this?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I want to know if you're still steppin wit your crew or if you're done wit 'em." He said, looking her in the eyes, turning serious.

"Why?" She asked, still not ready to admit she wasn't with her dance crew. Just the thought of it hurt, much less admitting it out loud.

"You always answer a question with a question or is it just because you're so taken by how hot I am?" Channing asked, grinning at her as he walked with her.

"Don't flatter yourself on my account, please." She rolled her eyes. She walked away and he followed her still.

"Aight, look, both me and my brother know who you are and we weren't sure it was you and if you don't have a crew, I wanted to invite you to come chill on our crew. " Channing sighed, turning serious and not grinning.

"Yeah, right." She laughed, shaking her head, not believing him.

"Yeah, right, as in you think my invite is bs or what?" He asked, putting his hands on her shoulders to stare her down.

"No, no, it's not like that. Yeah, right that you knew who I was. I mean, our crew is good but you don't just go up to someone and extend an invitation without them proving what they got and I'm sure you really don't know who I am and took your chances that I'm a street dancer on some crew." Russia said with a laugh.

"Ok, Russia O'Connor, if you're too chicken to show us your moves, it's cool. I'll let you play it your way. But truth is, you need a crew…" he said, noticing her surprised look at him knowing that. "Yeah, I saw that video too, and you know you need a crew, and we need someone like you to bring it to our team. So, it's cool if you don't got it to show it. " Channing shrugged, playing it cool.

"What makes you think I still even want to dance?" She asked, her eyes narrowed.

"A true dancer never stops dancing." Channing replied with a nod. She looked down, knowing he was right. She did it for many, many reasons. Her stopping would be like air taken out of a balloon. She'd be flat.

"Look, if you're too scared, it's cool. My crew gets down at Club Miami. We battle every other night. We run this city and I'm sure you'd love to be on the crew that takes your old crew's title away from them later this year, so, that would be us. Come check us out when you're ready, _little girl._" He said with a smile. He left her on that note and walked away.

"You didn't say what night was every other night. Is tonight the night or tomorrow night? "She called after him.

"Oh, my bad." He called over his shoulder with a shit eating grin on his face. "See you tonight. Starts at 11." He nodded and waved to her as he started to walk off.

"I never said I was…." She called after him, seeing him disappear. "Coming. " She muttered to herself, mad she wasn't quicker on her feet. Who was he to think she would even come tonight. He was nothing but obnoxious, she would make sure to call her boys and let them know who to take out when it came to the state battle, that was for sure. She walked around some more, not finding very much and then saw Brian.

"You about ready to head out?" Brian asked, eyeing her two bags.

"Yeah, I'm ready." She nodded, her mind reeling from her earlier encounter.

"Good, Rome is probably biting off his own hand to eat." Brian grinned, wondering why she looked so distracted. "You find some shoes?" He asked, nodding towards the bags.

"No. Well, yes, I think I did but the sales person sucked and out of principle, I walked out and I will find them online instead." She said with a frown.

"Uh-oh. What happened?" Brian asked, surprised she was being so talkative.

"He just told me every shoe looked good on my foot and stared at me like I was some money fountain to him. I just hate salespeople that don't sell to what people need." She said as they walked outside to the lowering sunset.

"That's Miami for you, better just get used to that." Brian laughed.

"Ok, my shoes are like your cars. Small scale to your cars but you get the point. You drive yours and it has to be just right. Same with my shoes." She said, trying to make him understand. "Do you buy the first car you look at that you like?" She asked, hands on her hips.

"Of course not." Brian said, then realizing he had just made her point. At any cost, he noted, it was good that she was at least talking about something.

"_This _is your new house?" She asked, taking an impressed breath in as they pulled up in the long driveway of the house that was close to a boat house and a big car garage. Just over to the left of the house spanned the ocean. It was breathtaking.

"Yep." Brian grinned proudly.

"How'd you manage this?" She asked, not meaning to sound rude.

"Me and Rome did a side job and got paid pretty big. Me, him, and Tej, we run that garage over there down the ways. We do mainly imports and take care of all the racing needs around here." Brian grinned at her reaction.

"Wow, must have been some side job." She whistled, completely impressed with the place. Behind the house, miles of the ocean were stretched out. His house was at least three stories and you could see a balcony and the house would have easily fit into Beverly Hills, it was that magnificent.

"You could say that." Brian grinned, not bothering with the details of how he got the money. She didn't need to know it was from taking 

Verone Carter down and it was money the government didn't know about.


End file.
